Intern + First Solo Trip; The People
On an odd Tuesday night, me and my roommate, let’s give her a name shall we? Kiran, we took our EV scooty out on a ride. After sitting behind uber moto ‘annayya’ everyday to office, I had got the hold of getting on and off a scooty and balancing my weight; but sitting behind Kiran put to test my newly learnt skill to its maximum, specially at the scarily taken U turns.
Hyderabad is a city carved in stone. There are rocks and trees around the roads and suddenly there are office buildings breathing into the sky, their names shining brightly in the night sky; we rode further with the metro arching above us and shops of different shapes and sizes colored in all shades to catch the eyes of passersby like us, lined our way.
We made our way to Durgam Cheruvu, a bridge over a lake connecting the corporate city with the rest of Hyderabad. It was beautiful and well maintained, let the pictures justify my claims.
It was a ride that made me new friends and surely to become one of my core memories of the city. It was a peaceful ride into the night after a long work day with friends laughing throughout the way. Laughing on trivial things that make life a joyous affair worth treading through like Kiran going to Havmor and Cream Bell walle bhaiya to ask “Bhaiya, Amul ki ice cream dedo?” or when someone is telling a story and I look at them and say “Yeh 60% hi sach lagra hai mujhe”, imagine how the conversation takes a hilarious turn after this comment.
Internship wise, I am loving my days. I enjoy going to my workplace and staying there longer for the atmosphere and most importantly food. This week I explored the code base, understanding exactly how the project is working and the business need and impact behind it. Campus to corporate feels like a much needed and appreciated transition from paying for learning to getting paid for learning, even a simple conversation with co-worker is like learning something new. Its where instead of lectures or books you could learn just by interacting with others and learning from the stories they have to share.
I feel productive at the end of each day, maybe because things are more objective oriented. Afterwards, I walk back home so that I get a chance to move, take in the weather and, look at dogs around like the one in the picture that stole my heart. After a playful day, a cutely curled up and soothingly sleeping dog just outside office gate. Through my camera, I was looking in a mirror.
I came to a new city thinking that I will see every single place it has to offer in the 8 week duration I am staying, planning everything out only to spend the weekend lazily. I didn’t go sightseeing, but it was still a trip in just being where I was, exploring the people.
I understood that a city is not its places, but its people. The food, language, weather and culture it has to offer. Being friends with locals gave a new way of looking at life altogether. I found a friend in a guy who looks like he came out from the movie KGF. The city colored me in its way, I started watching south Indian movies, dancing to their songs and learn the city’s language ‘Telegu” using an app called ‘Traditional Curry”; in a way feeling more connected to the city. My third roommate became more friendly amongst many, anyone would feel cute when someone tries to speak in their language in an undeniably funny way, marked trait of a beginner. I learnt hands on that learning a new language becomes easier if you have native speakers to talk to.
Getting to know the city comes with both the sides of the coin. Most of it is good, but something confusing happened that left me thinking about people and their situations. I was coming back after buying idli for dinner from a food truck when a poor family stopped me and explained their situation asking for some help. I said I don’t have cash but they insisted on buying grocery from a near buy shop. It was my naivety or a genuine will of helping them out, that I spent more than I would on myself, close to half my rent and more than what I spent in my first week; and went away happy with myself, thinking that I did a good thing until I was told otherwise.
I got sad and retrospective, started rewinding everything, questioning if I got duped or not? Did I do the right thing? If they were not genuine then would me being naive give them a confidence of doing the same with others? What could be situations of people that forces them to find an easy way out?
I kept thinking and people kept suggesting and ending their points with consider this a “Learning Experience”. Kiran came back and said things that I really wanted to hear. She went like it doesn’t matter what happened just know that you did what you did cause you genuinely wanted to do good, “Tumhara Karma ban gaya”.
I think I would have helped them anyways, what I learnt was knowing when to put a limit and say no. Helping someone in need was good, but I learnt that I should spend by the requirement and not go above and beyond.
Finding your people in a city comes with a feeling of home, empowering you to cope with anything and be happy. A friend eased me with what his father told him “If someone has all their body parts functioning, then they can work and earn”.
This was my first introduction to the world out there, with it’s good and not so good stuff and the learning experience to be forged into my memory for a better dealing with situations that come moving on. Exploring people in a new place is like KK’s song lyrics going like “Pathar ke in raston pe, Phoolon ki ek chaadar hai”
Phoolon ki ek chaadar hai ( acche log jo dost ban jaaye, aur safar asaan bana den)
